Twelfth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

We are surrounded by places that feel immensely “charged”. These places trigger very powerful and extraordinary feelings in us – feelings that embody ancient and primordial stirrings within the self. These experiences are difficult to explain, but nonetheless are remarkably similar to descriptions of archaic people’s responses to their sacred places. Such “charged” places stand apart to our inventory of ordinary places, where the whole physical body and being seem inherently affected by a wave of sensory unity that is intensely “real”. Further, experiences in these “charged” places seem to be universally shared by humans – experiences that make us aware of something that cannot be defined precisely but yet experienced within the physical realm. It is an archetypal experience of sorts that binds and bonds humanity across religious, cultural, regional and other differences. This paper is a work in progress that seeks to explore and extrapolate phenomenological underpinnings of archetypal hierophanies as experienced in our “charged” places, and how this deeper understanding of extraordinary place may be used in re-evaluating the process, goals, and status of place-design.